What are you working on?

I got this blade in a lot from an auction. It is pretty badass except for the obvious big chips.

Attachment 353636
It's 8/8+, 17/16 to be exact. Here's a close up of the spine stamp.

Attachment 353637

I've never seen another one stamped the same.

I have toyed around with differnt methods of taking those chips out. I have considered giving the whole blade a taper, bringing the heel forward or giving it more curve or a combination of both...or all three. I was thinking maybe something like this.
Attachment 353638

I'm stoked about this one because...as stated, it's badass, but, that being the case I don't want to start grinding and say, "Why did I do that?" The one thing I've learned though is when in doubt, wait it out.

I’m not sure I’d jump straight to moving the heel forward but you will need to move it some for the shape to flow. High angle honing and just go slow until the forward chip starts to make sense and see how little you can take from the back to get that back chip straightened out.

I always feel that on these old blades less is more, and the more peculiar they are, the less you should touch them.

I absolutely love this one

Finally got this one done. It's been in the restoration in progress drawer for a coon's age.
Henry Sears & Son #640, "Queen 3/4" NOT 6/8 :shrug:
Attachment 353780
I've been shaving with it's big brother exclusively for the last month and a half with an old edge which needs no help. The 7/8 is probably my best shaver of all. This one was a bit of a problem child. It was a microchipper. I wanted to do a full Ark progression but quickly realized that would not work so I down-shifted to the softer stones and at finish gave it a microbevel to stabilize the apex. It shaves well, just not the WOW shave of the bigger one, who now...
Attachment 353781

...has a mini me!!!

That is truly outstanding Paul!

Here's another one that has been in the drawer for far too long. Joseph Wostenholm & Sons *EBRO*
Before:
Attachment 353840

I swore I had some individual and more in progress pics but this was what I could find.

Got some more sanding done on the blade.
Attachment 353841
Attachment 353842

That top pic doesn't capture the extent of how pitted and cruddy it was. The scales need a lot of work too. More on that later.

What are you going to do with that big ass hole in the tang?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Johntoad57

What are you going to do with that big ass hole in the tang?

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You could always drill it out and then sleeve it to get the right sized hole.

Bob

I’ve had good luck just pinning them the way they are. The holes usually look worse than they are. They tend to taper in to the middles. I royally messed up the one I tried to drill and sleeve. That hole needs to be dead straight. I wound up filling it with JB Weld and trying two more times.

Same here. I tried all that. Seems to do nothing or cause issues at times. I don't use spacers on them either. The big, funky hole seems to allow the tang to slide as necessary when opening and closing, seems to keep the blade centered in the scales better.
IF the scales are straight!